Srimad Bhagavatham

The rest of the story of Sri Krishna being taken from prison to Nandagopal's place is known to all of us. This entire story clearly shows us that the world is Mayamayam - it is beyond apprehension as it is unreal yet seems to be very real. But for any person who analyzes and uses vichara (discrimination), the reality will dawn that there is only Brahman of the nature of Consciousness here and everything else is a mere illusion in Brahman or Lord.

Explanation

With this we come to the end of this beautiful story about the advent of the Lord. This story very clearly propounds the illusory nature of the world and the happenings in the world. A person will little discrimination will find out that anything about the world is a mystery. We don't know from where this world comes, where it stays and what is happening in the world - everything is mysterious and miraculous. If the answer is that the world came from the Lord and everything in the world is controlled by the Lord, this is also illogical - the Lord is eternal and
blissful whereas the world is ever changing and sorrowful. Such a changing and sorrowful world can never be created out the blissful Lord - if this is possible, then we should be able to get amrita and bliss from snake which we don't get but only get death in the form of poison. Similarly if we say that the Lord is controlling the world, such a Lord will have to be sadistic as we find only sorrow around us - all the various natural calamities like earthquake, tsunami etc. will also be controlled by the Lord. Thus instead of giving bliss to the people in the world, the Lord only gives sorrow which would make him a sadist.

Thus anything and everything about the world is illogical. This is shown in this story of the advent of the Lord as Krishna. How can any child have the form of Vishnu? How can a child who has just taken birth speak out? Yes, there have been many children who have spoken - Sri Sri Ravishakar is mentioned as being able to chant the entire bhagavad gita at an age of 3 but that is not what the Lord does here. He doesn't chant the Gita but gives instruction to Vasudeva and Devaki on Vedanta which is the base of Gita. This is as impossible as a child being born of a
barren woman. Thus this only shows the miraculous, mysterious and thereby illusory nature of the world.

Any illusion cannot be logically explained or analysis. The water seen in desert can never be explained logically. There is no similarity whatsoever between water and desert but still water is seen in desert. If answered that water is seen when Sun shines, then we have to answer as to what is the similarity between water and sun as well as desert and sun which makes the Sunlight show water in desert. Thus whatever way we analyze, we will only end up with illogical conclusions about an illusion. This is the case with all illusions including snake seen in rope, dream world and the waking world.

Any person who seeks bliss and removal of sorrow from an illusion must realize that there is no illusion at all and the substratum alone exists. The substratum for the illusion of waking world is the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus we have to realize that the world is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. The world is just an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. If we remove or forget the ultimate reality of Lord, then we will end up with sorrow alone as the
illusion is capable of giving us sorrow alone. Instead if we remember the ultimate reality of Lord behind the illusions, then we will get bliss which we are seeking each and every moment of our life. This doesn't mean that we have to get away from the world, take sanyaasa etc. This has nothing whatsoever to do with worldly activities. A person who knows there is no dream world can still dream but he is aware that the dream is an illusion - thus he knows that dream will give him sorrow alone. As he is aware about the reality of the dream world, therefore he will not be
affected by it. A person who knows that there is no water in desert but still runs after water will not end up in sorrow when he doesn't find water - because he always knew that there is no water.

Thus Vedanta only requests seekers to remember that the world is an illusion in the reality of Lord thereby doing all actions with this knowledge and as an offering to the ultimate reality of Lord. This alone can lead us to bliss which is the very base for Sri Krishna's entire life.

Summary

This story of Krishna's advent on Earth is known to each and every one of us. But Bhagavatham gives quite a beautiful import out of this story. The main import of this story is that the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord alone exists; everything else that is seen or heard is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. The ultimate reality of Lord is beyond all names and forms. Thus any form that we see
whether it is the form of Krishna or Siva or Sankara is only an illusion in the reality of Lord of the nature of Consciousness. Unless we understand this truth, we will be attached and averted to various names and forms of the world. This is what has been causing issues between the followers of Siva and Vishnu - because they believed the form to be real. Any form whether it is that of an avatar or a normal person will finally end us up in sorrow only.

Instead if we keep in mind the reality of Lord beyond all forms yet still being attached to a form, we will be ever blissful and slowly we will realize our own very nature of Lord. This is what we have to seek and perform in the world. It doesn't matter what activities we do but it is very important to remember that all forms are mere illusions in the reality of Lord. If we forget the reality of Lord, we will end up in an illusory world which can lead us to sorrow and sorrow alone. This is what
the Lord reminds his parents when he is born. We like most of the people in the world seek worldly things including a particular form of the Lord. Devotion to the Lord is not seeking a particular form and saying that "I don't want to merge with the Lord but be different from the Lord" - such a state of difference can never lead us to bliss because bliss is not there in difference. Bliss is our very nature of Lord. But unless we realize our very nature of Lord through knowledge that there is
only the Lord present here, we will end up in difference which will lead us to sorrow. Finally when the time comes to end up life, we will be crying over things we have missed in life. This crying for something or the other at the end of our life has been continuing for births. It is this lack of fulfillment of all desires by realizing the ultimate reality of Lord that causes us to take more birth thereby getting deluded again and again in the ocean of samsaara. But a wise person will analyze the nature of the world and understand that the world is a mere illusion
in the reality of non-dual Lord - thus such a person will end up his life happily as he is ever immersed in contemplation of the Lord. For a person who knows that the dream world is an illusion, dreaming is not at all an issue. Dreaming is an issue only for those who take it to be real. When a person takes dream to be real, he will start crying and brooding over happenings in the dream state. Such brooding will give us sorrow and ensure that we again dream.

There is one and only way to come out of this ocean of samsaara characterized by sorrows and sufferings - that one way is to realize our very nature of non-dual Lord and that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have attachments and should live life like a seclude going to the forest and taking sanyaas. But this only means that we have to constantly remember that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists here and everything else is only an
illusion in the Lord. This constant contemplation and knowledge will make sure that we are not deluded into the activities of the world. Such a person will live in the world like the lotus leaf on water - the lotus leaf though is in water but isn't wet even a little bit; similarly the jnaani will live in the world without getting affected by the world. He will thus be ever blissful - it is this bliss that we all seek and is shown in the life of Sri Krishna. The very life of Krishna is a means of
pointing us as to how to live in this world blissfully.